"Outstanding Groomer Operator of the Year"
 Congratulations Dave Newbury for your National Award from the Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organization (CCSO).  In 2020, Mr. Newbury was nominated by the Whitecourt Trailblazers Club and won the Outstanding Groomer of the Year from the Alberta Snowmobile Association.  The ASA then forwarded the award to the National level and he was awarded the prestigious National Award for his outstanding volunteer efforts.  

Mr. Newbury has been a volunteer with the Whitecourt Trailblazers since 2009.  Prior to joining, he was having a friendly conversation with Mr. Ken Linford and was asked what he was up to - Dave's response was "nothing".  Ken asked him to come trail cleaning and he has been our super volunteer ever since.  

Mr. Newbury is an integral part of the Trail Maintenance and Grooming Team. Dave can be found on the trails throughout the year on any given day. Dave loves the great outdoors and would love to live in a cabin in the woods, if Peggy would move with him. Monthly, we keep track of our recorded volunteer hours for funding and other stats. Amazingly, we have a separate column in our report just for Dave. He volunteers on an annual average of over 300 hours (he reports on), but we know it is well over +400 hours. He works on the trail system installing signs, benches, repairing sheds or working on the snow cats, club truck or any other items that need attending too. Dave is one of our handymen. He can fix pretty much anything. Not only is he really good at fixing, but he is a well organized and a detailed man. He takes a lot of pride in what he does and wants to always do it well and by the book.

Dave is not new to volunteering. For over 50 years, he was involved in Minor Hockey in many capacities, coaching, on the board, a past president, a part of the senior's hockey, Senators and refereed and for a number of years. A passion of his as well, he has been involved in golf and was an avid golfer for many years. For a few years, Dave has been riding and fundraising for the Ride to Conquer Cancer - a 200 km bike ride in southern Alberta. Thank you Dave for your community involvement! On behalf of the Trailblazers THANKS so much for EVERYTHING! you do for us. Over and above all the time!!